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More Lights Come On

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:02:00 GMT

Today Macy's announced that they are slashing jobs and cutting the dividend. I really don't know why they have to cut the dividend when they could just pull a page out of the Simon Properties playbook of paying the dividend in stock. All these juicy dividend yields the pundits are crowing about may be just a mirage in the desert for the many who are still listening to them but just remember I believe this is a bear market and hence I have a bearish position on the market. More crowing about tech as the shills of Wall St. continue to try to keep the game alive. Just like the casino's they need a constant flow of suckers to keep them in the lifestyle they have[More...]

Financial Mania Day

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:36:00 GMT

The XLF (chart above) is rallying and the volume seems to be missing in action. Is it me or does this bother anyone else. [More...]

Is Cheap Really Cheap ?

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:58:00 GMT

I had a break this morning and was poking around some of my favourite blogs to see what was what and caught Barry Ritholz's post Celebrating Incompetent Insider Stock Buys over at his excellent blog The Big Picture. I had just posted on my blog regarding insider buying in the banks and Barry had done similar. Besides his post being head and shoulders above mine, Barry's opening line is a classic where he says; "The investor capacity to lie to themselves is truly an awesome thing to witness." I wish I had said it myself Barry. I urge you to check out his blog, The Big[More...]

A New Index of Market Cap Leaders by Nation

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:20:00 GMT

The accompanying table (click to enlarge) includes the 10 largest companies in the ETF Innovators (ETFI) Nation Cap Leaders Index, which includes 51 companies with the largest market cap from each nation that is at least $5B U.S. Dollars. Exxon Mobil (XOM) has pulled away from the pack as the largest company by market cap in the world now that PetroChina (PTR) has declined by 45.7% in the past year on falling oil prices and the sell-off in emerging stock markets such as China.[More...]

Pre-Market Stock News Brief

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:15:00 GMT

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ETF Screener- Going Global

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:49:00 GMT

The Money Surge, otherwise known as the $700 billion bailout, is going to dominate the news and market in the days ahead. Obviously the deal or lack of one will be the catalyst behind the markets’ direction.During our technical analysis of ETFs an emerging trend jumped off the charts. To us it looks like foreign ETFs have bottomed and might be set to outperform. Our readers should keep an eye on the following international iShares ETFs:MSCI EAFE Value Index (EFV)Australia (EWA)Canada (EWC)Italy (EWI)Japan (EWJ)Switzerland (EWL)Spain (EWP)Global (IOO)S&P Global Financials (IXG)S&P Global Consumer[More...]

Weekly Rewind for the Week 33 (08/15/08)

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:33:00 GMT

This week, equities continued to benefit from what has evolved into a violent commodities liquidation (London Free Press - Oil Hits Three Month Lows; Bloomberg - Gold, Oil Slump). Although a bit mixed, the broadest U.S. indices ended in the plus column, with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading for a gain of +2.7%. This was inspite of reports of weak retail sales, record foreclosures, job pressures and hot[More...]

Still Beating the S&P 500 with a Simple Portfolio

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:11:00 GMT

Back in early 2006, The Confused Capitalist suggested a low maintenance model portfolio that I felt would outperform the S&P500 over the next five years or so. The portfolio was based on certain themes, some of which are ones which have generally proven to outperform over longer periods of time, such as buying value positions and small companies.Additionally, I felt that commodities and emerging markets would continue to benefit from the world situation, and that the US dollar would continue to be under pressure - thereby adding to investments denominated in something other than US$. I suggested positions in a total of six ETFs, at values of 7.5% to 25% of the portfolio, with most around the 20% range.When we [More...]

Three Excellent Emerging Market ETF's

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:18:00 GMT

The other day, I posted about two popular emerging market ETF (EEM, VWO) choices. While you aren't likely to go too wrong adding one of these two major ETFs to your portfolio, I believe you can do better.The three choices I examine here are all fundamental analysis ETFs, rather than based on old-fashioned market weighted capitalization like the prior two choices. What this means is the underlying stock choices are chosen on a rules-based entry system rather than how fat (or skinny) the valuations have gotten. I have written about fundamental analysis systems before, including [More...]

Be Aware Of Currency Impact With International Investments

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:44:00 GMT

International investments can add a diversification element to an investor's investment portfolio. One factor to keep in mind, however, is the amount of return that results from converting foreign returns back into ones home currency (the U.S. Dollar in this case). The resulting impact on returns during strong dollar periods can drastically reduce realized realized returns as noted in the chart below:(click on chart for larger image)[More...]